Chapter 28: Wanting to Build Parker Industries

"Mmm-hmm-hmm-hmm," Aunt May's mouth was stuffed with food again as she ate quickly.

It was obvious she was in a rush to get somewhere.

Peter wanted to say, "Aunt May, could you please slow down and let me hurry up first?"

But instead, he straightened Aunt May's posture and said seriously, "Aunt May, the things you're doing are too dangerous. I don't want you taking such risks."

"I applied for Mr. Stark's September Foundation sponsorship. Now I'm an intern at Stark Company. Believe me, this will help improve our lives!" Peter explained.

Hearing this, Aunt May turned to him with a serious expression too - though her chipmunk cheeks undermined her solemn look a bit. 

She realized she was being impolite eating so quickly. Aunt May gulped down her food, but started coughing from eating too fast.

Peter quickly handed her a glass of milk to help clear her throat.

Aunt May took big gulps of the milk to stop coughing. Once she caught her breath, she said firmly, "Peter, I don't do these charity things just for us. There are many people in need that I want to help. Since I have the ability, I should do it. With great power comes great responsibility. Do what you think is right."

Peter nodded solemnly, taking his aunt's wise words to heart. 

At the same time, his heart skipped a beat. He wondered if Aunt May had somehow discovered his secret identity as Spider-Man when she mentioned responsibility and power?

No, she couldn't have found out. He was always so careful when sneaking out, right?

Peter stole a cautious glance at his aunt.

Fortunately, she didn't seem to suspect anything. After their talk, Aunt May quickly finished eating. She handed Peter his daily allowance, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and hurried out the door.

The charity event she was helping with must be quite far away since she was rushing so much.

Peter shrugged, cleaned up the kitchen, and got his small backpack ready for school.

The public Midtown High School he attended wasn't as fancy as the elite private schools, but it had good teachers and learning resources.

Before getting Mr. Stark's funding, Peter had secretly used materials from the school lab to make his Spider-Man suit and synthetic webs.

Originally, Peter considered swinging to school using his webs today. But he decided against it, not wanting to abuse Mr. Stark's resources since he wasn't an official Avenger yet.

Plus, Peter hadn't disclosed his web formula, so he still had to produce his webbing himself. Speaking of which, he was running low after using up most of his reserves during the Avengers' Civil War. 

"I can make more webbing in lab class today," Peter thought as he put in his Bluetooth headphones and headed for the bus stop.

"But I can't keep taking from the school supplies forever. Those materials don't really belong to me," he considered guiltily. "Maybe I can start my own company like Mr. Stark's Industries...Parker Industries! Yeah, I like the sound of that!"

Peter got more excited imagining his own tech company the more he thought about it. But then he looked around at his tiny, cobbled-together "workshop" desk in his small bedroom, not even as nice as Spider-Man's hideout. His ambitions quickly deflated.

"Parker Industries is a long way off," he sighed. "But maybe I can start small, like Parker Labs. If I collaborate with Mr. Stark on research and development, I can earn money to upgrade my equipment. Then I can donate to Aunt May's charity too, so she doesn't have to risk herself fundraising."

The more Peter mapped it out, the more his plan started making sense. Yes, that's what he'd do!

Find a profitable project first.

Talk to Mr. Stark about a partnership next. 

Finally, establish Parker Labs!

"A wonderful tomorrow is waiting, Peter! Let's get to work!" he secretly motivated himself.

Soon he arrived at school and was putting his things in his locker when his friend Ned LeRusso came up behind him.

"You missed the last two days, where were you?" Ned asked, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder.

Peter turned around to face his plump Asian-American friend. Ned's family had been in the U.S. for generations and was fairly well-off, often sharing his new toys with Peter.

"Oh, uh, I applied for Stark's intern program and got accepted. I was working on a project the last couple days," Peter fibbed.

It wasn't a total lie - being recruited by Iron Man to help in the Avengers' Civil War was kind of like an internship.

"No way, the Stark internship? That's amazing!" Ned gushed. "I've dreamed of getting into Stark Industries, but they never picked me. What did you submit? What are the deets on your internship?"

"Ah, it's, uh, confidential stuff, you know," Peter deflected awkwardly.

Ned realized and nodded, "Oh right, trade secrets, my bad."

Peter quickly changed the subject before Ned could pry further. "So what did you get up to these last couple days?"

Ned's eyes lit up as he remembered. Pulling a small Lego figurine from his pocket, he grinned, "Check it out! My Lego Death Star set arrived!"

As Ned inspected the little piece, he started rambling excitedly

Ned inspected the Lego piece while excitedly rambling on. "The Lego Star Wars Series 10188 Death Star set! It has 3,803 pieces, including minifigures of Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Death Star droids, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and 23 others!"

He took a breath before rapidly continuing, "It has a super laser control room, Imperial conference room, hangar with a movable launcher rack, interior space for the Dianoga monster, the Emperor's throne room, a droid maintenance room. It's so incredibly detailed!"

Peter had to interject before Ned could rattle off any more specifics. "Whoa, Ned, slow down! So you're saying you want us to build this massive Lego Death Star together?"

"Exactly!" Ned grinned ear-to-ear. "We haven't had an epic Lego build session in forever. This'll be just like old times. What do you say?"

Peter smiled apologetically. "I'd love to man, but I still have stuff for that Stark internship to work on. Maybe another time though?"

The truth was, Peter planned to go patrolling as Spider-Man again that night to track down the lizard-like villain who'd been terrorizing the city.

(end of chapter)